Oscar Grant wrongful death suits get trial date

At a hearing on Monday, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel set a
trial date of Oct. 19, 2010, for the lawsuits, which were filed by the
parents and girlfriend of /*Oscar Grant*/ III.

The civil trial date is contingent on completion of a criminal
trial for former BART Officer /*Johannes Mehserle*/.

Mehserle, 27, is accused of murder for shooting Grant, 22, in the
back on the platform of the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland shortly after 2
a.m. on Jan. 1.

Mehserle and other officers were responding to reports that two
groups of young men were fighting on a BART train. He contends he intended to
shoot Grant with his Taser stun gun rather than his revolver.

Last week, an Alameda County Superior Court judge ordered the
criminal trial moved to a different county, citing the gravity of the murder
charge and an "avalanche of intense, continuing and current media attention."

The new location has not yet been chosen.

One of the wrongful death lawsuits was filed in March by Grant's
mother, Wanda Johnson, and by Sophina Mesa, the mother of his 4-year-old
daughter.

The second lawsuit was filed last month by his father, Oscar Grant
Jr., who is serving a life sentence in state prison for a 1985 murder in
Oakland.

A third civil rights lawsuit was filed last week by five friends
who were with Grant at the Fruitvale station. They claim BART officers
illegally arrested them and used excessive force.

Patel said she will decide later on whether the third lawsuit
should be included in the same federal trial as the family members' suits,
but said that for the time being, evidence gathering in all three cases
should be coordinated.